Airplane and Flight

Monday, March 9, 2009

Throughout the winter and spring — The Wrights fly for royalty all over Europe, launching their airplane from France and Italy.

February 19 -- Glenn Curtiss and Augustus Herring incorporate the Herring-Curtiss Company to manufacture airplanes. They have no intention of licensing the Wright patents.

May-April -- In France Henry Farman develops a biplane that uses ailerons to control roll. It is the first practical European airplane with ailerons.

June 16 -- Glenn Curtiss delivers the Golden Flier to the Aeronautic Society of New York. It is the first commercially-sold airplane in America.

June 29 to July 30 -- The Wrights deliver their new Military Flyer to the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Meyer, Virginia, and put it through the required trials. The Army accepts the flying machine and becomes the first military aircraft in the world.

July 17 -- Glenn Curtiss flies 25 miles in the Golden Flier to win the Scientific American Trophy for a second year in a row.

July 25 -- Louis Bleriot crosses the English Channel in a Bleriot XI monoplane. This has an enormous psychological effect around the world because it shows that natural physical boundaries that had protected nations for millennia can be crossed easily by airplane.

August 22 to 29 -- 22 pilots from all over the world converge on the old French cathedral city of Rheims for the first-ever aviation meet. There are hundreds of flights over seven days, and one spectator, David Lloyd George (who would later become Prime Minister of England, remarks, "Flying machines are no longer toys and dreams; they are an established fact."

August 27 -- Farman makes the first flight of over 100 miles and wins the contest for endurance flying at Rheims.

August 29 -- Curtiss comes in first in the speed contest at Rheims, capturing the Gordon Bennett Cup and setting a new world's speed record of 46.5 miles per hour.

September 7 -- Eugene Lefebvre dies while testing a new French-built Wright airplane. He is the first pilot to die at the controls of his craft.

September 30 to October 4 -- For the Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York, Wilbur Wright circles the Statue of Liberty and flies up the Hudson River to Grant's Tomb and back. Over a million people see him fly.

October 6 to November 2 -- Wilbur Wright trains Lieutenants Frank Lahm and Fredrick Humphreys to fly at College Park, Maryland. They become the first U.S. military pilots.

November 22 -- Orville and Wilbur Wright incorporate the Wright Company to manufacture airplanes. The company is backed by New York financiers, including Delancy Nicoll, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, Morton Plant, Thomas F. Ryan, Theodore P. Shonts, Russel Alger, and Robert Collier.

September 21 — Wilbur Wright sets a new world record for time aloft, 1 hour and 31 minutes. He does the best flying of his life in the months that follow, knowing he has to give the press something to talk about besides Orville’s terrible crash. He sets new records almost daily.

January 13 — Henry Farman wins the Grand Prix d’Aviation in a modified Voisin biplane, flying the first circle in Europe.

February — The Wrights reach an agreement with the United States War Department to deliver a two-seat aircraft for $25,000.

March — A syndicate of French businessmen agree to manufacture Wright airplanes if the Wrights will come to France and demonstrate one.

March 12 — The Aerial Experiment Association tests its first plane, the Red Wing on a frozen lake in Hammondsport, New York. It makes a 319-foot hop and crash-lands.

April 9 — Wilbur Wright returns to Kitty Hawk to practice flying before he demonstrates the improved aircraft they now call the Wright Model A.

April 25 — Orville Wright joins Wilbur in Kitty Hawk

May 6 — Orville and Wilbur resume flying tests.

May 21 — The Aerial Experiment Association tests its second plane, the White Wing with Glenn Curtiss at the controls. It makes a 1,017-foot flight and lands safely.

May — The Wrights decide to divide their forces — Orville to Fort Meyer, Virginia, Wilbur to France.

May — Henry Farnam, France, challenges the Wrights to a fly-off for cash stakes — $5,000 — for best speed and distance. When newspapermen confront Wilbur with the challenge, he characteristically has no comment.

June — Wilbur Wright arrives in France, finds the Wright Model A that was shipped there was smashed by Customs officials. He begins to repair it with hired French workmen in a corner of the Le Mans automobile factory.

July 4 — The Aerial Experiment Association wins the Scientific American prize with the June Bug, a plane designed and piloted by Glenn Curtiss. The same day, Wilbur Wright is badly burned in France when a radiator hose explodes.

August 8 — With the French press taking pot shots at the Wrights, Wilbur decides "it would be a good thing to do a little something," even though the Wright Model A is not quite ready. A crowd gathers at the Le Mans racetrack, including Bleriot, Archdeacon, and other French aviators. Wilbur makes a flight of almost 2 minutes and the French are won over. Says Delagrange, "Well, we are beaten." Bleriot says, "Monsieur Wright has us all in his hands." Only Archdeacon is a little sour.

January — The Aero Club of France meeting is rocked by the news of the Wright’s accomplishments. Ferber accepts the Wrights claims, Archdeacon refuses to give in. Archdeacon sends a taunting letter to the Wrights, challenging them to come to France and claim the Grand Prix d’Aviation. The Wrights do not respond.

January — The French journal L’Aerophile publishes the details of the Wright’s patent, but members of the Aero Club ignore it.

March -- The first tractor monoplane, a Vuia, is tested. It's unsuccessful, but it starts an important design trend.

July 23 — Albertos Santos-Dumont, France, tests the control of his powered airplane, the 14-Bis, tethered underneath a dirigible.

September 13 — Albertos Santos-Dumont, France, makes several short hops in his 14-Bis.

October — Octave Chanute writes the Wrights that the Europeans are catching up to them. Wilbur writes back that he believes the Europeans won’t have a flyable airplane for 5 years.

October 23 — Albertos Santos-Dumont, France, flies 197 feet in his 14-Bis. But he never gets far enough the ground to get out of "ground effect" and it’s not counted as a true flight.

November 12 — Albertos Santos-Dumont, France, flies 722 feet in his 14-Bis. This is considered the first true flight of a powered aircraft in Europe.

June — Robert Esnault-Peltrie, France, builds a Wright-style glider. It performs poorly and he blames the wing-warping system. He substitutes ailerons and publishes his findings. Later, other aviators will use Peltrie’s ailerons to get around the Wright’s patents.

June — The Wrights take to the air with a new machine, the Flyer III. It is the world’s first practical airplane.

October 5 — The Wrights fly for 24 miles in 38 minutes, landing only when their gas tank runs dry.

October — The United States government tells the Wrights it has "no requirements" for a flying machine.

November — The Aero Club of France learns that the Wrights have made of flight of 24 miles, circling the Huffman Prairie. They are skeptical, dispatch a correspondent to the United States to investigate. The correspondent corroborates the Wright’s accounts.

November — Gabriel Voison and Ernest Archdeacon, France, test a box-like glider, towing it behind a motorboat. It flies successfully.

Fall — Louis Bleriot, France, meets Gabriel Voisin who is building gliders for Archdeacon. The two agree to collaborate and build several unsuccessful powered machines.

March — Ernest Archdeacon, France puts up a purse of 25,000 francs for the first officially recorded circular flight of one kilometer, called the Grand Prix d’Aviation. French oil magnate Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe matches Archdeacon, raising the prize to 50,000 francs, or about $10,000.

Spring — Albertos Santos-Dumont, France, a pilot famous for his pioneering work in dirigibles, begins to experiment with gliders.

May — The Wrights attempt to fly at Huffman Prairie, Ohio before the press on two occasions with a new machine, the Flyer II. However, because it is so underpowered, it can only manage brief hops.

July — The first of the Wright’s patents is granted.

August — The Wrights are making hops of 600 feet in the Flyer II, but they still have trouble getting into the air and staying there.

September — The Wrights develop a catapult launching system to get their aircraft up to flying speed. It works well, and they begin to make progress again.

September 20 — Wilbur Wright flies the first complete circle in an airplane.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Throughout the spring and summer — The Wrights plan and build parts for their first glider.

May 13 — Wilbur Wright writes Octave Chanute and asks for advice.

August 3 — WilburWright writes to Kitty Hawk, asking for information on weather and lodging.

August 16 — Joseph Dosher, the chief of the Kitty Hawk weather station, responds to Wilbur’s letter. Dosher also refers Wilbur’s letter to William Tate, the postmaster. Tate also writes Wilbur, providing more details about Kitty Hawk

September 13 — Wilbur Wright arrives in Kitty Hawk, stays with the Tates, and begins to assemble a glider.

September 28 — Orville Wright arrives with camping gear, food, and a mandolin. He also brings a camera, the first ever seen in Kitty Hawk. The brother stay in a 12-foot by 22-foot tent, about a mile from the Tates. They assemble a biplane glider with movable front elevator — they have located the elevator at the front not only to provide control, but to serve the same function as Lilienthal’s rebound bow. They begin to test the glider as a kite. Orville begins a humorous correspondence with his sister Katharine, whom he is very close to. Wilbur will not let Orville fly until he’s sure the glider is safe.

October 10 — The Wrights experience their first crash. They rebuild the glider, and once again test it like a kite.

The Wrights send 10-year-old Tom Tate, William’s nephew up on the glider as they fly it like a kite. Later on, just before they leave to go back home, Wilbur makes about a dozen free flights.

October 23 — The Wrights break camp and head for Dayton. Puzzled by failure of glider to produce calculated lift, but encouraged by success of wing warping and elevator control.

The Wright brothers experiment with twisting wings, trying to deform the front edges. They can’t come up with a device light enough or strong enough to control a glider in flight.

May 30 — Wilbur Wright writes the Smithsonian asking for published materials on aeronautics. He is answered by Richard Rathbun, who sends four pamphlets and a list of other publications.

July — Wilbur Wright sells a woman a bicycle inner tube, then nervously twists the box that it came in while she talks to him. He notices that when he twists one end of the small rectangular box in one direction, the other end twists in the opposite direction. In his mind’s eye, he sees the twisting wings of a biplane.

July — The Wright brothers build a biplane kite with a wingspan of 5 feet and a wing warping system. When tested by Wilbur, it works just as planned. Unable to contain his enthusiasm, he pedals miles out into the country side to find Orville, who is on a camping trip with friends. Immediately the brothers begin planning a man-carrying version.

September 30 — Percy Pilcher dies in a crash of his Hawk, just as he is preparing to test a powered airplane.

November 27 — Wilbur Wright writes the United States Weather Bureau and inquires about locations with high winds. The weather bureau sends him The Monthly Weather Reviewand wind charts, and Wilbur learns of Kitty Hawk.